​Ron Mazza spoke to the Shellbacks Club on the history of the 6-Metre racing sailboat in Canada, from the early boats arriving in Canada in the 1930s to the recent Worlds Championship raced in Vancouver in 2017. Woven through the narrative was the personal and family history of the Mazza family's own boat Kisita, from the time Ron's father brought it into the family, through its history of owners and restorations, to racing it in the Worlds.

Bruce Kemp spoke to the Shellbacks Club about the 1913 weather bomb, the "extra-tropical hurricane" that devastated the Great Lakes, sinking ships and killing hundreds of mariners.

Bruce related a selection of the fascinating tales of that storm, his reconstruction of events, and his interviews with those recalling the events of the time. These make a selection of the materials in his 2017 book "Weather Bomb 1913: Life and Death on the Great Lakes".

Filmmaker Peter Rowe presented one of the "Angry Planet" films he produced, on the topic of waterspouts. Filming was done in Florida, where waterspouts appear off the Florida keys.

Shellbacks also heard the account of a sailor who was actually involved in a waterspout, and lived to tell the tale. At the tables, others chatted on their own experiences with waterspout sightings.